"There
exists in every man at every moment two simultaneous
postulations, one toward God, the other toward
Satan."

-
Baudelaire, My Heart Laid Bare

This
quote embodies Baudelaire's "contradictory
impulses toward sprituality and eroticism, refinement
and dissipation" Likewise, Baudelaire himself
embodied the another kind of contradiction, associating
with both the world of the dandy and the world
of the bohemian, "with their respective associations
of aristocracy and the crowd" (Seigel 114).

Baudelaire
is aged 23 in this image and right in the midst
of his dandy lifestyle. Note his fluffy hair and
languishing pose, indicating the decadence of his
way of life.

Baudelaire
is an important figure of Bohemia, and tells us
much about the Dandy lifestyle.
Though he began life as a wealthy member of the
bourgeoisie, there are several important ways in
which Baudelaire was involved with Bohemia and the
culture of youth in Paris...

He
fought alongside the students and youth of Paris
at the Barricades in 1848

Like
many Bohemians, at age eighteen he "rejected
[his family's] attempt to turn him toward a
diplomatic career" and moved into the Latin
Quarter (Seigel 109)

After
years of carelessly squandering his inheritance,
he found himself living a much more Bohemian
lifestyle, perpetually short of money and living
in dingy hotels

In
actuality Baudelaire despised Bohemia, yet he was
drawn to it and lived among it from his 20's and
throughout the rest of his life. In his early years
he was not a struggling artist, but rather a gifted
poet with a sizeable inheritance, who lived the
extravagent life of the dandy
rather than the impovrished one of the bohemian.